ISLAMIC, Arabia. Rasulid. al-Mujahid Ali, AH 721-764 / AD 1321–1363. Dirham (Silver, 27 mm, 1.81 g, 7 h), type C, Zabid, AH 736 = AD 1335/6. Within a hexafoil, a bird with open wings standing to left; in the inner margin, ‘al-sulṭān al-malik al-Mujāhid Sayf al-Islām ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd’ (‘Sultan [and] King al-Mujahid Sayf al-Islam ʿAli son of Dawud’ in Arabic); citing the long-deceased ʿAbbasid caliph al-Mustaʿsim billah (AH 640-656 / AD 1242-1258) in the outer margin, ‘al-imām al-Mustaʿṣim billāh amīr al-muʾminīn ḍuriba bi Zabīd sana sitt [wa] thalāthīn [wa] sabʿa miʾa’ (‘Imam al-Mustaʿsim billah, commander of the believers. Struck in Zabid in the year 736’ in Arabic).
Rev. Within a hexafoil, ‘bism Allāh / al-raḥmān al-raḥīm / lā ilāha’ (‘In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. There is no deity’ in Arabic); continued in the inner margin, ‘illā Allāh Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq’ (‘but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the religion of truth’ in Arabic); continued in the outer margin, ‘liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih al-aʾimma raḍiya Allāh ʿanhum Abūbakr ʿUmar ʿUthmān ʿAlī (‘so that He may make it overcome all religions. The Imams, may Allah be pleased with them: Abubakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthman, ʿAli’ in Arabic). Album 1108.3. Lightly toned and with a beautifully designed bird. Some areas of weakness and the reverse struck slightly off center
, otherwise, about extremely fine.
From the collection of Judge Hans-Joachim Specht (1935-2024), ex Peus 421, 1 November 2017, 1562.